LINIfEAK SOCIETY OF LONDON. ^3 



Carpenter's results apparently found at first confirmation by 

 Prof. O Schmidt's observations*, who in 1870 had an opportunity 

 of examining the deep ritt of the southern portion of the Adriatic 

 from a large steamer engaged in laying cables. He dredged 

 across this rift in three lines, reaching depths of 480 and 630 

 fathoms. He found the bottom consisted uniformly of yellowish 

 foraminiferous mud, with scarcely any trace of higher animals, 

 ascribing this poverty to the same causes as shown by Carpenter. 

 This supposed azoic condition in the Adriatic has been recently 

 entirely disproved. 



The zoological results of the cruises of the ' Porcupine ' and 

 ' Shearwater ' in the Mediterranean could not be considered 

 conclusive or even satisfactory, and therefore we find in the year 

 1881 two expeditions at work, the ' Travailleur,' sent by the 

 Prench Government, which I have already referred to, and the 

 ' Washington,' a steamer fitted out by the Italian Government, 

 on the recommendation of Professor E. H. Giglioli of Plorence. 

 These two expeditions divided the area of the Western Medi- 

 terranean fairly between them ; but detailed reports of the work 

 done by them are still a desideratum. Of the work done by the 

 ' Travailleur ' I can give scarcely more information than that 

 they trawled and dredged in deep water oS the coast of Algiers 

 and the south coast of Spain eight times, once in the Balearic 

 Islands, six times olf Corsica, and 24 times off the Mediterranean 

 coast of France. The explorations of the ' Washington ' in 1881 

 were confined chiefly to the deep sea round Sardinia, but extended 

 also towards the Bay of Naples and the western extremity of 

 Sicily. Some thirty successful trawling operations were carried 

 out in deep water down to 1300 fathoms, the greatest depth 

 ascertained by the sounding-line being 2150 fathoms about mid- 

 way between Sardinia and Naples. Abyssal forms of animals 

 were obtained in the deepest parts reached by the trawl, and 

 found to be mostly identical with those found in the Atlantic. 

 On subsequent cruises more attention seems to have been paid to 

 the littoral fauna (Gulf of ^gma, Dardanelles) than to that of 

 great depths t. 



The exploration of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean was 

 undertaken by Austria. The steamer ' Pola ' was equipped with 

 the most perfect apparatus for every kind of oceanic work, and 

 engaged in these cruises from 1891 to 1894. The areas explored 

 extended from the southern half of the Adriatic to and along the 



* SB. Ak. Wiss. Wien, Ixii. 1870, p. 669. 



t Prima campagna talassografica del R. piroscafo ' Washington ' ; Relazione 

 preliminare del Prof. E. H. Giglioli. Eoma, 1881. 8° (Estratto dagli Atti del 

 HI. Congresso Geografico Internazionale). A. Colombo, Raccolte Zoologiche 

 eseguite dal R. piroscafo ' Washington ' nella campagna abissale talassografica 

 deir anno 1885. In Eivista Marittima. Roma, 1885, Aprile, pp. 23-54. 

 So far as I know, no other account of this cruise has been published ; 

 nor can I find a relation of cruises of the same ship, which seem to have been 

 undertaken in l88ii-3, according to a note by J. Murray, Chall. Rep. Summ. 

 Pt. I. p. 106 B. 



LLNN. SOC. PEOCEEDINGS. — SESSION 1896-97. d 



